iTunes, Amazon, Kindle, Nook, even eBay — the list is seemingly endless where readers can get their next fix of fiction online. And unfortunately, bricks-and-mortar libraries have, for some readers, become an afterthought.

The tributes that began to pour in — online and through social media, in newspapers and on broadcasts on television, and in personal stories shared face to face — after the announcement of Dean Smith’s death on Sunday morning provided an unforgettably moving testament to how much he meant to people who knew and admired him.

As I stood in the kitchen after work trying to make my way to the living room, I was again bombarded by pleas from my 9-year-old daughter, Trinity, and 12-year-old son, Ethan, for money to buy things deemed critical to their young lives

It is regrettable that you chose to trivialize the actions of the Lee County Board of Commissioners as they passed resolutions opposing fracking in Lee County and the Mining and Energy Commission regulations that pretend to regulate fracking in North Carolina.

A perfunctory look at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction's school performance grades, released Thursday, is disturbing, especially with almost 30 percent of the state's public schools receiving a grade of either “D” or “F.” In Lee County, there were no “F” grades, but five of 13 graded schools received a mark of “D.”